Sanitary napkin and absorbent pad which comprises a part thereof



Oct. 25, 1955 c JOA SANITARY NAPKIN AND ABSORBENT 'PAD WHICH COMPRISES A PART THEREOF Filed Aug. 2, 1954 p 4 i 2 0i i f INVENTOR. C027- 6-. Jan

A TTQENEYJ United States Patent SANITARY NAPKlN AND ABSORBENT PAD WHICH COMPRISES A PART THEREOF Curt George Joa, Sheboygan Falls, Wis.

Application August 2, 1954, Serial No. 447,227

7 Claims. (Cl. 128290) This invention relates to a sanitary napkin and absorbent pad which comprises a part thereof.

The improvement resides principally in the pad, which comprises upper and lower bats of fiber such as paper pulp. These bats are confined between facing plies which extend the full length of the pad and are pressure-bonded marginally and at the ends of the pad. While the facing plies extend full length, one of the bats is preferably materially shorter than the other so that the thickness of the pad at its ends may be reduced without undue compression of the pulp.

Between the upper and lower bats are interposed one or more plies of tissue, at least one of which is printed with staggered stripes of a water resistant material such as paraflin. The printing tends to distribute longitudinally of the pad the transmission of moisture between the upper bat and the lower bat.

The pressure-adhesion of the upper and lower facing strips along the side margin of the pad may result from the operation of die cutting the pad from a composite multi-ply web. As best shown in a cross-sectional view hereinafter referred to, this tends to leave the pad with relatively sharp lateral margins which would make them selves felt objectionably during use, notwithstanding the fact that the gauze wrapper is interposed between the pad and the person of the wearer. To provide softness, these side margins of the pad are enclosed in channeled strips of tissue which lie between the pad and the gauze wrapper. It is a very important feature of the present invention that these channel-shaped strips are impregnated with a lubricant, petroleum jelly of the type commonly sold under the trademark Vaseline being an appropriate material for the purpose. This lubricant not only softens the strips of tissue but further is transmitted to the gauze of the wrapper during use, when the impregnating lubricant is softened by body heat. In turn, the lubricant is communicated to the skin of the wearer, making for increased comfort during use of the sanitary napkin.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of a sanitary napkin made in accordance with this invention, a portion of the wrapper being opened to expose the pad.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the pad with portions of successive layers broken away to expose the interior construction.

Fig. 3 is a view of the pad in longitudinal section on lines 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a detail view taken in cross section on the lines 44 of Fig. 3.

Within the wrapper 5 which may be made of gauze or any appropriate fabric is a pad comprising a relatively long bat 6 and a relatively short hat 7, each of which is made of wood pulp or similar unfelted fibrous material. Interposed between the bat are plies 8 and 9 of tissue, known as crepe cellulose wadding. These may be materially shorter than the bat. Any suitable tissue may be used at 8. The tissue at 9 is desirably special in that it has been printed with staggered stripes 10 of paraflin 2,721,554 Patented Oct. 25, 1955 or the like. Each stripe extends longitudinally of the pad. In practice, I have made them about one inch in length and I have spaced them about three-eighths of an inch apart lengthwise and about one-eighth of an inch apart laterally, the ends of each stripe terminating between the ends of two adjacent stripes of the next series of stripes. The general pattern is clearly shown in Fig. 2. It will be understood that any water-resistant and, desirably, water repellent, substance may be used instead of the paraffin actually employed. Any of the waterproof synthetic resins may be employed, but I have found parafiin not only ideal for the purpose but very inexpensive. The water resistant stripes differentially bafile moisture penetration to resist lateral movement and encourage longitudinal distribution without impeding flow from the upper bat to the lower.

The two bats 6 and 7 have cover or facing plies at 11 and 12, respectively. These have longitudinal crepe direction, further encouraging moisture distribution lengthwise of the pad. Successive pads are desirably die cut transversely of a web of multi-ply material which comprises the tissue 11, the bat 6, the tissue plies 8 and 9, the bat 7 and the tissue ply 12. In blanking out pads from such a composite web, the dies cause the margin of the pads to be reduced in thickness and the margin of the tissue plies 11 and 12 to be substantially joined in the manner indicated at 13 and 14 in Fig. 4. The ends of the sanitary napkin pad are somewhat reduced in thickness by compression, the amount of compression required being minimized by the fact that pad 7 is materially shorter than pad 6. However, by using a relatively higher degree of compression at 16, 17 as best shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the adhesion of the bats to each other is increased by the pressure-knitting of their fibers at these localized zones.

The relative harshness of the margins 13 and 14 would be apparent to the touch of the wearer of the sanitary napkin despite the interposed gauze wrapper 5 but for the fact that each of the margins is enveloped by a channel-shaped tissue wrapper 15 which is desirably impregnated with petroleum jelly or other suitable lubricants. These channel-shaped marginal strips are held in place by the gauze. Their impregnation is not apparent visually but the petroleum jelly generally softens at body temperature and not only lubricates adjacent portions of the gauze but also adjacent portions of the wearers skin contacted by the gauze at the edges of the sanitary napkin, thereby preventing chafing and greatly easing any friction during use.

The water repellent edging prevents lateral escape of moisture and prevents loss of particles of pulp or tissue during use.

I claim:

1. A sanitary napkin absorbent pad comprising a pair of bats having liquid-permeable tissue interposed between the bats, said tissue having a fiow regulating pattern of relatively spaced water impermeable stripes, the spaces between which are elongated longitudinally of the pad.

2. The device of claim 1 in which the stripes are arranged in transverse rows, the stripes of each row being relatively short and in staggered relation to the stripes of adjacent rows, stripe ends being interposed between the ends of the stripes of adjacent rows.

3. The device of claim 1 in which the stripes comprise paraffin printed upon the tissue.

4. The device of claim 1 in which one of said bats is shorter than the other, its ends being spaced inwardly from the ends of the longer bat, the respective bats having facing plies of tissue, the bats being tapered in thickness at their side and end margins whereby the tissue plies are substantially united at such margins.

5. The device of claim .4 in which the margins are enveloped intissue" channels extending longitudinally of the sides of the pad.

6. The device of claim 5 in which the respective channels have lubricant-impregnation.

7. A sanitary napkin comprising the combination with a; wrapper, of a pad comprising a gauze Wrapper, a plurality' of absorbent bats with an: intervening tissue ply printed in: staggered stripes of parafiin, said stripes extending longitudinally of the tissue ply for distribution of fluids passing from one bat to another, the said bats having facing plies of tissue convergent along the side margins of the bats, the latter being compacted under pressure; together Withtissue paper channels extending longitudinally of the pad and enveloping the side margins of the bats and facing plies and having an oily lubricant impregnation rendering said channels substantially waterproof, said channels softening the margins of the pad to the wearers touch and being adapted to supply through the wrapper a sufficient portion of the lubricant to coat the Wearers skin when the lubricant is warmed during use.

References Citediri the" file of this patent FOREIGN PATENTS 19,330 Great" Britain Nov. 13, 1913 

